[AnotherUnixGeek]

1536 is when Henry executed Anne Bolyn. My wife has studied this subject extensively and believes he destroyed himself when he did this, because Anne was the love of his life.

By most accounts, Henry had already begun his pursuit of Jane Seymour while he was married to Anne Boleyn. He became engaged to Jane Seymour one day after he beheaded Anne Boleyn and married her 10 days afterward.

That doesn't sound like a man for whom Anne Boleyn was the love of his life. I tend to agree with the guys in the article, and it's not an original theory - many historians and researchers have traced Henry's violence to his jousting accident. Possible brain damage, or chronic pain from the injuries.

But it should be noted that Henry had already disposed of Catherine, the wife he'd been married to for 20 years by then, and had turned on Thomas Wolsey, his advisor and chancellor since his boyhood - he would likely have killed Wolsey if Wolsey hadn't obliged him by dying first. Even without any jousting accident, Henry was a brutal monarch.

[Talisker]

By most accounts, Henry had already begun his pursuit of Jane Seymour while he was married to Anne Boleyn. He became engaged to Jane Seymour one day after he beheaded Anne Boleyn and married her 10 days afterward.

That doesn't sound like a man for whom Anne Boleyn was the love of his life.

Why not? He was a brutal, calculating man. He decided what he had to do, started doing it, and finished by killing her. Just because he planned it and then killed her didn't mean he didn't love her. Henry was a king, creating a new church, fighting the Catholic Church for the whole world. He obviously believed his destiny was given to him by God, and though it brought him grief, he carried it out - including getting a new wife ready to go, to try to emotionally distance himself from Anne before he had her executed.

[grey_whiskers]

He became engaged to Jane Seymour one day after he beheaded Anne Boleyn and married her 10 days afterward.

Rules!

oh wait..